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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:Harry/Ginny Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Humor, Romance Warnings: Extreme Language, Intimate Sexual Situations, Negative Alcohol Use, Violence Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 277 Summary: A freak accident clears the name of Sirius Black who then takes over the welfare of a young Harry Potter. A hideous discovery convinces Sirius Hogwarts is too dangerous for the young boy. Years later a lonely, over-worked Harry meets a young lady who will change his life and actually allow him to have a little fun. If only his fellow Aurors could work out who he was dating. Hitcount: Story Total: 153623; Chapter Total: 20844 Awards: View Trophy Room Author's Notes: Big thanks as always to MinistryMalcontent for his beta skills. Any errors you find in this are mine, not his, although I might also blame Word 2010 and it’s magical ability to change all the settings in the ‘References’ tab randomly. Thanks also to anyone who rated or reviewed the story. I get lonely without reviews. |
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Chapter 8 — Meet Georgina Breathe deep and keep calm, thought Ginny, as she paced back and forth in front of the fireplace in her flat. She glanced over at Harry, who was sat on the sofa chewing his bottom lip. He didn’t look much better than she felt. For the hundredth time Ginny cursed herself for bending to her mother’s wishes. The family had wanted to meet Harry and here they were waiting to use the Floo to join them for Sunday lunch. What had seemed like a simple idea now filled her with terror. She glanced at her watch and decided it was time to leave, for her anyway. “Harry, I’m going to Floo over first. Will you follow me in five minutes, not before?” she asked. He managed to look even more worried. “Why are we going separately? Is there a problem?” he asked. “No,” she assured him. “I just want to go ahead and lay down some ground rules for my lovely brothers. I might need to, err, prepare them all a bit too. I don’t know what their reaction will be when they find out I’m dating you.” “What loving parents wouldn’t be overjoyed to have their daughter bring me home?” Harry joked, his voice not quite managing to convey humour. Ginny knew he had been a nervous wreck about this meeting for days and he was desperate to make a good impression. He had even made notes about her various family members and started memorising details about them. She would have laughed at him normally, but she was equally keen for them to accept Harry. She thought her Mother would take to him instantly, after all he was a dashing hero. Besides, he had a certain child-like innocence at times that Ginny knew would inflame her Mother’s maternal instincts. Of the males, well, as long as her Father and her oldest brother Bill liked him, she didn’t care too much. True, arch prankster George could do the most damage but she could deal with him if necessary. Giving Harry a quick kiss, she stepped into the fireplace and seconds later was deposited into the living room of her family home. Looking around she was instantly glad she had come on ahead. The clan was gathered and it looked suspiciously like an ambush. Ginny glanced around the room at her various family members who were seated around the Floo in a semi-circle that offered no cover or chance of escape. She gritted her teeth as several of her brothers openly grinned at her. A quick scan revealed nearly a full set of family members. The only one missing was Charlie who must not have been able to travel back from the dragon sanctuary in Romania. Ginny was concerned however that Angelina, George’s girlfriend, was also not present. Angelina was wonderful at keeping George in check and curbing his more extreme tendencies. Her absence was not a good sign. True to form, it was George who spoke first. “Hi, Gin-gin. What’s happened to the new boyfriend then? Too chicken to face us then, is he?” George said, with an evil grin on his face. The idea that he had scared off a new boyfriend of hers would have delighted him, she knew. Bastard. “He’ll be along in a few minutes. I wanted to talk to you all before he arrived and judging by your attitude, George, I made the right decision!” She drew breath before continuing. “Right, first off, none of you are going to try and intimidate him! I very much doubt you would succeed, but that’s no reason for you to try. This relationship is going very well for me and I don’t want any of you to try and mess it up, is that clear?” She scowled at them and most of her brothers had the decency to look a little ashamed, suggesting intimidation was exactly what they had planned. George, however, just cackled. “Now don’t you worry, Ginny,” her Mother spoke up, “everybody will be on best behaviour, won’t they?” She cast her own scowling look around the room and received a few nods in return. Molly then looked back at her daughter, obviously waiting for her to continue. Ginny silently thanked her Mother with a quick smile. “The other thing is, well, my boyfriend is quite well known. In fact, he’s very famous and I don’t want everyone gawping at him or asking stupid questions, okay?” She looked at them challengingly. The comment, however, sent a ripple of anticipation around the room. “It’s another bloody Quidditch player, isn’t it?” her brother Ron accused. Ron had a rather low opinion of male Quidditch players, despite the fact he would have given his right testicle to be one himself. “No, Ron, he’s not a Quidditch player,” she replied. Ginny debated whether to announce Harry’s identity before his arrival but came to the conclusion that they simply wouldn’t believe her unless they saw it with their own eyes. The choice was taken out of her hands a second later when the Floo flared into life behind her and Harry stepped through. Ginny quickly turned and grabbed his hand. She then pulled him forward so they were both facing her family. Desperately, she tried to steady her nerves and keep her voice level. “Everyone, I’d like you to meet my boyfriend Harry…Harry Potter.” In all the years she had lived at the Burrow she could never recall hearing a moment of absolute silence as deep as the one that followed her announcement. The only sounds were the ticking of the clock on the mantel piece and the cup of tea her Father had been holding dropping out of his numb fingers and hitting the carpet. Nine pairs of eyes stared at them in shock. Okay, this is going well, she thought. Fortunately, Harry was apparently used to such situations and broke the silence. “Hello everyone, I’m very pleased to be here. Ginny’s told me so much about everyone I can’t wait to meet you all,” he greeted them all warmly. Ginny squeezed his hand in appreciation. Unfortunately, all his greeting seemed to achieve was that everyone’s eyes shifted solely to him. Most people seemed to be staring at his forehead, she thought. The silence started to drag out again when Harry hissed ‘introductions!’ to her out of the side of his mouth. This managed to spur her into action. She moved forward towards her parents pulling Harry along with her lightly, before introducing her Mother and Father. Harry offered his had to her Father who accepted it automatically. Shaking hands seemed to have the effect of knocking him out of his trance. “I’m very pleased to meet you, Mr Weasley, and you, Mrs Weasley,” he offered his hand to her mother in turn, who took it in both her hands and shook it enthusiastically. “Ginny!” she admonished her daughter, “why didn’t you tell us! Oh, Harry, it’s so wonderful to meet you. How on earth did you meet Ginny? How did you get together? My word, I can’t believe it!” Molly Weasley was well on the way to getting herself into a state of near hysteria. Fortunately, Arthur recognised the danger signs and cut her off. “Really, Molly dear, let the poor man breathe! Actually, Harry, unless I’m mistaken we have met in the past. Of course, you were much younger but I recall you attended a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix on a couple of occasions when they were held at Grimmauld Place. You must have been just a teenager then and you were there with Sirius Black.” Arthur seemed to be struggling to remember the details of the meeting but it appeared to have triggered a memory for Harry. “Yes, I think I recall at least one of those meeting as well. If I remember, Mrs Weasley, you fed us all afterwards. Chicken stew, I think. It must have been really good if I can remember that after all these years!” Ginny grinned inwardly. Complimenting her mother’s cooking was always a way to get on her good side. You’re doing well, Harry, she thought! “Oh yes, I remember!” Molly cried in delight. “Oh, you were such a sweet young boy, but what a fine young man you’ve grown into.” Ginny failed to suppress a chuckle and Harry squeezed her hand hard in retaliation. With a good first impression made on both her parents, she led Harry over to Bill and his wife Fleur. Bill had always been her favourite of her brothers and she keenly wanted his approval. Both men briefly sized each other up before warmly shaking hands. Harry addressed Bill first. “Heard a lot about you, Bill. A Curse Breaker! That must be a fascinating line of work,” he said. “It certainly has its moments, Harry. But then again, I expect being an Auror must be quite interesting as well,” Bill replied. The two men continued chatting and it was clear to Ginny both knew a fair bit about each other’s line of work. Harry asked some fairly technical questions regarding wards and Bill inquired about the progress being made in changing some legal statute or other. Both were fairly guarded, but Ginny was sure she was witnessing a mutual respect beginning to grow between them. She glowed with happiness at the idea that her two favourite men in the world, other than her Dad, could become friends. Watching them it occurred to her that Harry and Bill were alike in many ways. Certainly not in looks, as if she would ever date anyone who looked like one of her brothers, but in personality. Both of them were very responsible, but both had a taste for excitement and danger and this reflected in their respective jobs. They also shared a certain charisma that endeared people to them and a strength of their own convictions. It suddenly occurred to Ginny that she had chosen a man for herself very like her brother — no bad thing at all, but something she would have to think about later in more detail. As keen as she had been for Harry to meet Bill, she was as reluctant for him to meet Fleur. Beautiful and graceful, Fleur was part Veela and had enormous power over the male of the species. Ron in particular still regularly made a complete fool of himself around her, even after all this time. Both times her ex, Tyrone, had met her he had practically thrown himself at the girl, and nearly been throttled by Bill in the process. She was dreading what Harry’s reactions to Fleur would be, but in the end she needn’t have worried. Harry looked directly at Fleur for a second as if he was trying to figure something out before offering his hand and a friendly smile. He exchanged some small talk with her while Bill, who had obviously noted Ginny’s relief, winked at his sister. That her beautiful sister-in-law had such little effect on Harry made Ginny want to perform a victory dance. Oh, that boy was definitely going to be rewarded when she got him home. Turning away, she then introduced Harry to Percy and his wife Audrey. Frankly, Ginny had no idea how this meeting would go and didn’t really care that much. Percy had always been somewhat of an outsider and Audrey was distant at the best of times. She couldn’t help but notice however how worried both of them looked at meeting Harry. The reason soon became evident and Percy managed to both surprise and impress her. “Mr Potter, I’m pleased to finally meet you as I feel I owe you a huge apology,” Percy began formally. “You see, during the war I worked for the Ministry as Minister Fudge’s personal assistant. I’m afraid I was responsible for drafting a lot of the propaganda that was directed against you, at the Minister’s instruction of course! I only realised the truth and the damage I’d gone until much later and…” Harry interrupted him. “Percy, please. It was a confusing time for everyone and at least you acknowledged your error, which is a lot more than most Ministry officials of the time did. Also, Ginny tells me that you later more than made up for it and fought bravely. I would never criticise anyone who stood up and was counted in those final battles. Whatever happened under Fudge is water under the bridge as far as I’m concerned. I’m just pleased to meet another of Ginny’s brothers and hope we can be friends.” A smile came to Percy’s face for the first time since they had arrived, and out of the corner of her eye Ginny noticed her parents beaming as well. Unfortunately, as well as things had been going up to that point, they were about to take a turn for the worse. George was next to be introduced and the look on his face suggested he was not going to be so accepting of Harry. George had always been a fun-loving scoundrel when his twin had been alive, but since Fred’s death a darker side occasionally surfaced, particularly if he had been drinking. As George moved forward to take Harry’s hand, Ginny was sure she caught a whiff of alcohol. That he had been drinking so early in the day, and the fact Angelina was not there, were not good omens. Just as Harry was about to take George’s hand he seemed to think better of it and suddenly jerked it away. “Ah, George, yes. Ginny has warned me all about you. I was strongly advised not to shake hands with you or accept anything to eat from you either. I guess as owner of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes you’re always looking out for new test subjects, I expect,” Harry said with a smile. George returned the smile but didn’t look so happy. Ginny suspected he had been planning something. “Well, this is a surprise!” George cried in a voice that was just a little bit too cheerful. “Our sweet little sister has managed to pull herself the Chosen One himself! How did you manage that then, Gin-gin? You must really have put out on the first date.” “George!” Molly yelled angrily. “I will not have you creating problems today! You keep a civil tongue in your head and apologise to your sister immediately!” George mumbled something which might, or might not, have been an apology but appeared largely indifferent to his Mother’s telling off. Ginny noticed Harry’s expression had hardened somewhat and she hoped he wouldn’t take matters into his own hands. After all, if anyone was going to hex George into oblivion, it was going to be her. Moving on, they approached her last brother Ron and his fiancé, Hermione Granger. Hermione, who had been a good friend of Ginny’s at Hogwarts, seemed thrilled to meet Harry and could hardly suppress the millions questions that Ginny knew she had. Ron, however, looked anything but pleased and folded his arms across his chest. “How long have you been going out with my sister then, Potter?” Ron in an unfriendly tone. “Over a month now, Ron. She’s a wonderful person,” Harry replied carefully. “So, you’ve been cheating on her already, have you?” Ron’s face had gone red and his fists were clenched. Harry face suddenly looked like thunder at the accusation. “Cheating on Ginny? What the hell are talking about, man?” Harry shouted. Ginny had never seen Harry angry before. She had seen him annoyed when a waiter in a restaurant had been rather unpleasant and his mild annoyance had been enough to ensure a grovelling apology. Now, she could almost feel the power radiating off him and he seemed to grow several feet in height. Ron suddenly looked less confident. “You went out with Margret de Laney last week, didn’t you!” he accused. “You were seen in a nightclub with your hands all over her.” He stood back and looked triumphantly at Harry. Harry however looked confused. “Who the hell is Margret de Laney?” he asked in an exasperated voice. “Don’t pretend you don’t know! She’s star of ‘Days of our Lives’ the drama on the wireless! There was a story about you two in the Daily Prophet.” Ginny groaned. This was typical of Ron, he would pick up a copy of the Prophet and, nine times out of ten, rubbish any story he read. But if there was something in there he wanted to be true, then it was of course cold, hard fact. “Ron, you total hypocrite! You’re always saying how most of those stories are made up. How much rubbish have they printed about me over the years? Do you believe all those stories?” Ginny nearly screamed at him. “Of course I don’t, Gin, I know you,” Ron replied, “but I don’t know him! How many stories are there about all the women he dated? Some of them must be true” “So, when and where did I take out this woman whom I’ve never heard of?” Harry asked, his voice cold. “Last Saturday! You were seen at that fancy nightclub ‘the Night Owl.’ Apparently loads of people saw you!” Ginny growled in frustration. “Ron, you idiot! Last Saturday Harry was with me all day. He came to watch me play against the Arrows and he was with me all evening! How can you believe the crap they print in those papers?” Ron suddenly looked a lot less sure of himself. “Well, what time did he leave? He could have gone to the night club afterwards couldn’t he?” Ron wasn’t giving this up without a fight. “He was with me all night, you cretin!” Ginny screamed. She heard Harry groan very quietly beside her and she suddenly realised what she had admitted to. She had just announced to her parents and her brothers that she was sleeping with Harry. Deciding the damage was done, and attack was the best form of defence, she rounded on Ron. “Right, listen to me, dickhead, and listen well. The papers haven’t printed anything true about Harry since the war! At Harry’s work they even run a joke list of all the dates apparently he goes on according to the gossip columns. If he dated all the girls that they say he did, he wouldn’t have time to eat, let alone go to work. And Aurors work rather long hours in case you didn’t know, Ron. He certainly wouldn’t have the time for the playboy lifestyle he apparently has. You may also notice that there are never any pictures accompanying these stories and that’s because they’re all made up! In the last month I don’t think there’s been a single night when one of us didn’t know where the other was! And I will tell you this, Ron, if you ever accuse my boyfriend of cheating again you better have cast iron evidence or I will hex you into the middle of next week, you hear me?” Ginny took a deep breath and tried to keep a lid on her anger. Beside her, Harry looked like he wanted to beat Ron to a pulp but was holding his ground. Ron looked suitably cowed. “So there’s absolutely no truth in any of these stories, then?” he meekly challenged Harry. Harry paused for a second and appeared to be deciding whether to blow Ron into small pieces or to just answer him. In the end he took the less messy route. “Ron, I will tell you this one time and one time only. Prior to meeting Ginny, the last girl I went out with was my then girlfriend, eight months prior. The girl in question, whom I went out with for over half a year, was a Muggle and I ask you, do you remember seeing one story in any of the papers about me dating a Muggle?” Ron shook his head, obviously somewhat surprised. “Well then, I would suggest that that might give you some indication as to the accuracy of the newspapers. And before you ask, I didn’t date anyone in the last eight months because it was a very difficult break up, thank you for asking, and it took me a long time to get over! Any other questions about my personal life you want answered, Ron?” Harry was by this point nose to nose with Ron who had by this point gone very pale. Ron shook his head. “Good!” snapped Harry before he turned to Arthur and Molly apologetically. “I’m very sorry about that, Mr and Mrs Weasley, but I think the world of your daughter and I would never cheat on her. Being accused of seeing someone else, particularly based on some story printed in that rag of a newspaper, just makes my blood boil. I’m sorry if I’ve upset anyone and if you wish me to leave, I will of course do so.” Molly looked horrified. “Harry, of course we don’t want you to leave!” she cried. “You have nothing to apologise for! Everybody knows that those papers just print rubbish. Shame on you, Ron, making such accusations! Harry is a guest in our home and you have insulted him and your sister. I’m disgusted with you.” Ron managed to look like a five year old caught with his hand in the biscuit barrel, but Ginny had no sympathy with him. Taking advantage of the momentary peace, Molly started moving everyone into the kitchen to serve lunch and Ginny hoped the worst was over. Unfortunately, she was wrong. Half an hour later everyone was sat round the large kitchen table. Everyone present wore unhappy expressions apart from George, who was clutching his sides and howling with laughter. He had managed to prank every single person in the room and none of them were happy. Molly and Arthur were currently stuck to their chairs. The fact that George had dared to prank his own Mother was a shock to Ginny and suggested he just wasn’t thinking right. The fact that he had been furtively topping up his pumpkin juice from a small hip flask might offer an explanation as to why. Bill was now sporting a red dog-collar which he was unable to remove. He also had the words ‘property of Fleur’ written in large letters across his forehead. Fleur herself had grown large rabbit ears and matching whiskers. Percy had turned into a canary several times and Audrey was currently a vulture perched on the back of her chair. Most embarrassing to everyone was that Ron and Hermione’s clothes had all turned invisible. They had been unable to remove them and any additional clothing they put also turned invisible. They had resorted to wearing bed sheets around themselves like togas. Ginny herself was currently pink, completely. Hair, clothes, skin, everything was pink. Harry was similarly blue and didn’t look too happy about it. George just cackled. “Oh, you all look great! Although I must say, Hermione looked the best. Now I know why Ron’s so smitten with you, eh!” He winked at Hermione who blushed deeply and looked mortified. George then turned to face Ginny. “Thought I’d turn you pink, Gin, just to remind everyone that you’re a girl. Although from your earlier comments I gather Mr Potter has been allowed to find that out for himself.” George howled with laughter again as Ginny started to reach for her wand. Suddenly, Harry leapt to his feet and had his wand pointing at George before anyone could register what had happened. If he was angry before, now he was furious. The kitchen table was vibrating with the power he was radiating. George looked fearful, as if it was just registering that he had pissed off one of the most powerful wizards in the country. “Right, that’s it!” Harry shouted. “I have put up with your snarky behaviour and stupid jokes all afternoon. But when you start being so bloody rude to Ginny, not to mention embarrassing poor Hermione there, then you have crossed the line! You know what your problem is? You need a different perspective on things!” With that, a pink beam of light shot out from Harry’s wand and hit George square in the chest, knocking him back out of his seat. For a second there was silence as everyone looked at Harry in horror, wondering what he had done. A groaning from under the table at least proved George was alive. Percy, who was sat nearest to George, suddenly gasped and his eyes budged. “What the bloody hell happened?” asked a voice from under the table. Ginny would have assumed that the voice belonged to George, however it was much higher pitched and feminine. A figure emerged and stood up straight. It was a young woman with bright red hair and freckles who strangely appeared to be wearing exactly the same clothes that George had been. She looked confused. “What the hell’s happened to my voice and…what the f…” the woman looked down at herself. “Tits!” she screamed, “you’ve given me bloody tits, Potter” Harry just grinned. “I may have given you some things, George, or should I say Georgina, but I’ve taken the odd thing away as well.” The woman formally known as George looked blank for a second before her hands went to her crotch. A look for horror appeared on her face. “What have you done to my…..oh sweet Merlin, what will Angelina say!” With a despairing cry, George (or was it Georgina?), ran out the room and could be heard thundering up the stairs. Ginny turned to Harry. “What did you do to him, Harry?” she asked, wide eyed. “It’s a disguise spell we Aurors use occasionally,” he explained. “Obviously it reverses the sex of the recipient in every way. George is now exactly as he would be if he had been born a girl.” “How long does it last for, Harry?” asked Bill. “It should wear off by tomorrow,” Harry confirmed. “It’s hardly ever permanent.” “Permanent!!” several voices shouted at once. “Well, actually there was just the single case of it being permanent,” he admitted, “but it was unusual circumstances. The wizard who had the spell cast on him enjoyed being a woman so much he somehow managed to will himself into that form for ever. So unless George has some deep routed desire to become a girl, he should be back to normal tomorrow.” Percy looked over at Ginny. “Well then, Ginevra, it’s possible you might get that sister you always wanted after all.” Everyone looked at him, shocked that he had made a joke. “Harry, that was…that was…” started Molly. Ginny cringed expecting her mother to explode in anger at any second. “That was…the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in my life! George a girl! Hahahaha!!” Molly collapsed in helpless laughter and a second later everyone else joined her. George, the master pranker, had finally received his comeuppance. The rest of the meal was conducted in high spirits. After everyone had recovered, Harry and Bill between them managed to undo all of George’s pranks. Molly served dessert and amused herself by standing at the bottom of the stairs occasionally and shouting up offers of help, such as teaching George to braid his hair or to transfigure some of her old dresses into his size. Even better, Percy somehow managed to get hold of a camera and after a brief trip upstairs returned triumphantly declaring that he had a photographic record of the event. He was grinning happily as he promised to send copies to Charley in Romania. Ginny could only laugh at his delight and speculated how long Percy had dreamed of getting even with George. Even Ron suddenly seemed a lot friendlier with Harry. Ginny smiled as Molly insisted Harry have a third helping of apple pie and custard. Thanks to her brother George being a complete prick, Harry had been warmly accepted by the family. As Harry turned to look at her she winked at him. It had been a great afternoon, and as soon as she got Harry back to her flat she was going to follow through on her earlier thought of rewarding him in a suitable way. Oh yes, it was turning out to be a good day. |
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